TV client and server error - occasional (1 Viewer)

[Goodmane1980]

I'm running MP 1.2.0 on a server and a client. The client is used the most as its the HTPC.

This afternoon, I resumed the client from sleep (the server may have been to sleep since it last was connected and then woke up to record via powerscheduler) and tried to tune into channel (BBC2), it resulted in an error. It was not able to tune into the channel, but MP itself did not crash.

I then tried to use the tv on the server to experiment and tune into bbc2 or any channel, and it wouldn't work. Media Portal then crashed and I saved the logs (attached).

While all this was happening one of my TV cards (Pinnacle Royal TS) was recording a programme (the big bang theory) which it seemed to do successfully.

I have two TV cards, a single tuner Pinnacle and a dual tuner Hauppauge T-500. The Hauppauge tuners are set as higher priority than the Pinnacle but for some reason the Pinnacle card always seems to be being used the most.

Can anyone help solve this for me please? Is the Pinnacle tuner causing problems or the Hauppauge tuners I bought used on ebay? Or is it because my IP tuners that came with MP need configuring? Or perhaps I just need to upgrade to MP 1.2.2? ....

I'd be chuffed if anyone can help. thanks.

 

[geichel]

Hallo,
I also used a Hauppauge T-500 with MediaPortal. I had problems that the card was not available after standby. This was a general driver problem. Only a reboot after waking up the computer from standby solved the problem for me.
Regards,
ge

 

[Goodmane1980]

Hi,
Thanks very much for your help Ge. I will maybe have to get swap the card then...just checking did you make sure the Nova T-500 was configured to 'stop' rather than pause when idle, as this was documented to cause problems and resulted in a fix for MP 1.2.1 (I applied the change manually rather than update).

Also assuming others also have not been able to get the T-500 working properly with a sleeping system, what card(s) do people normally recommend please as being a safe bet for media portal? I'd want a dual tuner preferably PCI-E or PCI is okay if used and good. I don't need HD as I heard there are hassles setting up EPG and having different file formats?

Cheers,
James

 

[nfox]

I used to have a T-500 and found it a complete pain in the arse. I replaced it with a Compro E700 Vista (dual DVB-t, PCIe), which has worked very well for me (I have seen someone complain about this card, but it has always worked well for me in three different PCs). I recently bought and installed a TBS 6280 (dual DVB-t2, PCIe), and so far that has been working very well too.

The TBS card is capable of receiving HD signals (as well as SD, of course), and I would highly recommend it. The recordings are stored as .ts files, the same as SD recordings, although I believe that the contents are mp4 not mpeg. This causes no problems with playback in MP, VLC, or WMP. The EPG is a bit of a problem as the EPG for the HD channels is encrypted. I solved this by preventing the TBS card from grabbing the EPG and using WebEPG instead. (Actually, I allow the E700 to grab the EPG for all channels except the HD ones and use WebEPG to grab just the HD channels). The WebEPG plugin is included with the TV server and is quite easy to set up. IIRC I saw a post recently which suggested that someone (can't remember who) is working on sorting out the encryption of the HD EPG, so that will (hopefully) not be an issue for much longer.

Hope this helps

Neil

 

[geichel]

Hallo, James!
Please do not missunderstand me. I used the Hauppauge Nova-T 500 from 2007-2012 with MediaPortal. The card works well, but the hauppauge driver has a problem if the system resumes from standby. For this reason I wrote a small programm which reboots my HTPC when it resumes from standby. So you should only have problems tuning channels if your system resumed from standby NOT after a system reboot.
Now I am using a card for DVB-S2 from a company named "Digital Devices" This card works quite well with MediaPortal.
Here is the link http://shop.digital-devices.de/epages/62357162.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/62357162/Categories
I can also send you my little program, maybe it helps, as a little workaround.
Regard,
Ge

 

[Goodmane1980]

Thanks again. Last night is seemed to work okay after I restarted the tv service, and what you said about a script got me thinking about just restarting the service. I found the option 'Reinitialize service on wakeup' in the powerscheduler plugin so I have enabled this and will give it a go! I'll probably also update to 1.2.2 over the next week or so.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Goodmane1980]

Thanks nfox as well, just noticed your response, I think I will save up and get a dvb-t2 card. Blackgold seems to be the most easily available in the UK, in your experience on the forums, are Blackgold and most other makes generally okay?

 

[nfox]

If you want a dual DVB-t2 card there are only two I know of - the BG and the TBS, although both manufacturers also do quad DVB-t2 cards, if you really want to push the boat out. Both are easily available in the UK (I got my TBS via Amazon - free postage FTW!!). They both have dual DVB-t2 tuners, and they're both PCIe. The TBS is ~£12 cheaper. The BG also has dual DVB-C tuners. Although early on there seemed to be one or two problems with the BG card (driver related as far as I could tell), all these seem to have been sorted (other than the EPG, which is not a card problem and affects both cards anyway). Owners of the BG card will be able to give you more details. I chose the TBS because I very much doubt I'll ever need a DVB-C tuner, let alone two of them, and I wanted to spend as little £ as possible. I suspect either card will be as good as the other.

BTW it's the TBS 6280 - dunno why I called it the 3280 in my earlier post, but I've corrected it now in case anyone tries searching for it.

 

[Goodmane1980]

Thanks for checking the model number, it looks like a good card...and the good news (for my wallet!) is I may not need it for a while. I know its very soon after making the change, however I tried to replicate the problem and cannot. I think the 're-initialise the server option' has worked. I've also upgraded to MP 1.2.2 server-side to hopefully fix any other bugs. I think the only other change I had to make with this Nova card is setting the delay before it starts to about 15 seconds in the TV server config ( I had made this change previously but mention it here for anyone searching for solutions to the Nova t-500 in future)

Thanks again.